


Far Too Beautiful To Love Me

by ktfics



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: First Kiss, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 15:56:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20099788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ktfics/pseuds/ktfics
Summary: Kaito, Kokichi, and the times they realize they're in love with Korekiyo Shinguji.





	Far Too Beautiful To Love Me

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for Korekiyo's bday! I love this ship so much... follow me on tumblr @dykeenvy to talk oumota or kiyoumota!

“You know, there have been many perplexing trickster figures found throughout mythology, across every culture,” Kiyo murmurs, golden eyes piercing through Kokichi’s grin. “You… remind me of some of my favorites. How fascinating.”**  
**

And that’s when Kokichi knows he’s in trouble.

Kiyo looks at him like he’s someone worth understanding. Kiyo looks at his actions not to see past them, not to brush them off to try to uncover some nebulous truth, but to appreciate the actions themselves. Kiyo looks at him like he’s more than just some brat lying to get attention, like he’s something fabled, someone worth immortalizing.

Kokichi hangs off of his shoulders and asks Kiyo for another story, another myth, another epic, and Kiyo smiles and his voice lilts and the words dance through Kokichi’s head. Kiyo describes to him countless morals, both those clearly written out and those left purposefully ambiguous, and Kokichi asks him what he thinks, wants desperately to find out all the different ways Kiyo can examine and tear apart someone’s humanity.

_And were they justified?_

_Ah_, Kiyo pauses to properly mull over his words, _That is the question, isn’t it? Is disrupting the status quo a virtuous action all on its own, or should there be proper reason behind it?_

Kokichi asks for tall tales and fables and Kiyo provides, again and again, and Kokichi listens and watches how he keeps his eyes down and his hands resting still and nearly lifeless in his lap, fingers only beginning to twitch as he reaches the climax of a story or a part he’s particularly fond of.

_I’m starting to think it won’t be long until you tire of this, Kokichi. I will have emptied myself of my best stories._

_Never_, Kokichi wants to say, but doesn’t.

_It’s not the stories, Kiyo, it’s the fact that you’re the one telling them. It’s the fact that you’re the one explaining them_, Kokichi wants to say, but doesn’t.

Sometimes, Kiyo looks at him with that same faraway gaze he gets when he’s describing the actions of some long-dead figure of myth. Sometimes, Kokichi thinks Kiyo may even be dedicating his nonsensical pranks and twisted-up lies the same attention he dedicates to pouring through old tomes.

_You’ll tire of me first_, Kokichi wants to say, but doesn’t.

Sometimes, he wonders if perhaps it’d be best if Kiyo never looked at him the way that Kokichi likes to be looked at ever again. Surely, once he figures out whatever it is he’s trying to understand, Kiyo will tell his last story and move on.

But he doesn’t stop giving stories, and Kokichi doesn’t stop asking for stories, and so they remain, the push and pull between writer and subject forever building like the tides.

It’s funny, Kokichi thinks; Kiyo seems to believe he grows emptier each time he gives away a story, when each tale he shares only makes it more and more clear just how much life pulses through him, all the people inside of him clamoring for his voice to grant them eternity. 

He’s been immortalized by the very process he claims to be but a vessel for, the inextricable link between narrator and narrative making them both live on outside of their bodies, turning them both mythical.

\--

“The afterlife is a concept that prevails across time, Kaito.” Kiyo brings a delicate finger up to his mouth. “Just because you do not believe in ghosts does not mean they do not linger.”

And that’s when Kaito knows he’s in trouble.

Kiyo’s creepy, in a way that no one else he’s ever met has been creepy. Kaito tries to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but c’mon, really? Ghosts? Who actually believes in that shit, anyway? Plus, there’s something unsettling about him and that mask of his, that long hair of his, the delicate lashes that sweep down over his cheekbones. There’s something about it that just makes Kaito feel… off.

Still, Kaito prevails. Fear is not a word that exists in his vocabulary, except for when he’s saying he’s not afraid of something, and so, he asks Kiyo out for lunch. Just to get to know him a bit better, maybe see if he can include him in a few more class activities.

And, well, maybe Kiyo’s not that bad.

They’re two hours into a conversation on the implications of space travel before Kaito realizes that no one has ever listened to him talk about astronomy for this long without attempting to change the subject or getting bored. Kiyo looks at him and gives measured responses and inquires about the training he’s endured, the languages he’s learned, and Kaito finds himself wanting to make sure that Kiyo knows that same curiosity is burning within him.

_You really aren’t an idiot, Kaito._

_Huh? Well, of course I’m not!_

Kiyo stifles a laugh behind one of his hands, and Kaito wants to peel his hand back, to unwind the bandages. _To actively seek out spending time with me, even with our previous misgivings... your belief in the redeemability of humanity is truly astounding. Brave, even. It is the furthest thing from stupid I could possibly imagine._

Kaito wants to- wants to slip his mask down- he wants to-

Kaito leaves and spends the rest of the day with his head buried in a calculus book, trying to let the constant stream of numbers drown out any thoughts of pretty boys or fear.

_You’re sick, aren’t you?_ Kiyo asks, his voice just a bit tentative.

_What? Why do you think that?_

_I am well acquainted with illness, Kaito._

Kaito pauses, searches his eyes for a moment and tries to find the judgement in his expression, but there is none. Perhaps it’s alright that Kiyo doesn’t view him as a hero, Kaito thinks, if he looks at him like this instead, like he’s human and that’s more beautiful than anything else he could be.

_Yeah, well, I’m fine. Nothing The Luminary of the Stars can’t get through; a little cough’s not gonna stop me now!_

And Kiyo considers his words for a second, the sound of cicadas humming in the background swelling up to some kind of crescendo, like something important is about to happen.

_Shame doesn’t suit you, Kaito._

And Kaito doesn’t know what that means, of course he doesn’t know what that means, he can’t-

_I can’t-_

Kaito wants to know what’s under Kiyo’s mask. He wants to know what his lips look like.

There is not enough time in the world for Kaito to verbalize every want that buzzes under his skin, but maybe… maybe he doesn’t need time.

Maybe he just needs someone to help him write them down. Maybe he just needs someone to help him with the untangling.

\--

When they kiss for the first time, it is not without a small amount of fear and not without a small amount of desperation.

Kokichi unravels Kiyo’s bandages, and Kaito kisses at his scars, and Kiyo loosens his own mask.

Kiyo looks at them with wonder and amazement and shock and more than any of that, with love.

_You’re beautiful, you know_. Kokichi laughs and tells Kiyo about all the times he almost asked him for a kiss instead of a story.

_You’re beautiful, Kiyo_. Kaito gives a soft smile and tells Kiyo that he was never afraid of him, never ashamed of him, that he was only ever scared of what he could do to him.

_You’re both beautiful_, Kiyo whispers, and allows himself to want, to exist without feeling the need to shrink down into something more manageable.

And for the night, they are together. For the night, they are unconquerable, mythical, and utterly human.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, comments are appreciated!!


End file.
